Can Alcohol Make You Gain Weight Fast? Cause & Health Tips

Without mentioning, we all already know that this generation is extremely in contact with various destructive and habit-forming substances, and among them, alcohol is the most common one. While it is true that this generation frequently comes in contact with toxic substances, it is also true that they do care about being at the perfect weight more than ever. This is where they start wondering whether their go-to party essential is contributing to weight gain. The connection between alcohol and weight gain can be complicated. Therefore, can alcohol make you gain weight? If yes, then how is it responsible for weight gain? Find answers to your queries with today’s health tip.

What Does Alcohol Do To You?

Being the most common go-to for socializing, alcohol is consumed by people in a wide range. This is a toxic element that brings numerous effects on consumers’ overall health. Initially alcohol creates a buzz moment, which is found as an enjoyable moment for drinkers. But alcohol affects the brain and body in both the short-term and long-term. These effects can turn into major life-threatening issues over time. Since alcohol has potential addictive properties, it can be both physical and mental. Psychological dependence on alcohol can be concerning and getting rid of this issue can be challenging, which is why alcohol recovery programs are out there in a wide range.

Does Alcohol Make You Gain Weight?

The short answer to this question is that yes, alcohol and weight gain are related. Studies say that two alcoholic drinks a day for men and one alcoholic drink for a woman should be considered as the limit. If anyone is crossing this limit daily, then excessive weight gain due to alcohol consumption might happen. However, a question that roams around and people try to find an answer to is, Can alcohol make you gain weight overnight?’’ Well, no, this is a myth. Alcohol indeed makes you gain weight, definitely not overnight but gradually. Alcoholic weight gain mostly happens when a person keeps drinking more than two or three alcoholic drinks per day regularly.

How Can Alcohol Make You Gain Weight?

Alcohol makes you gain weight based on a few things. Things like water retention, metabolism, and calories. When a person is drinking an excessive amount regularly, alcohol puts all these effects together and as a result, the user experiences extra weight. In this section, we will delve deeper into the matters that are behind the alcoholic weight gain.

Water Retention

Alcohol causes water retention or oedema. Means the bloated, puffy feeling you feel is not your imagination; it is actually because of your heavy drinking session. Several causes lead to this puffy (water retention).

• Bloating Trap: We are naming this a bloating trap because when a user consumes heavy spirits, it leads to rapid urine production as this is a diuretic and causes dehydration. Now it makes one think about how bloating and dehydration happen at the same time. Well, it happens because when urine production occurs, the body loses water, and to survive dehydration, it goes into survival mode. At the same time, the kidneys release sodium which is why the body experiences both.

• Inflammation: Another reason that you feel bloated after drinking is that it is an inflammatory substance, and it causes inflammatory water retention.

Calories

Alcohol contains hidden calories, and that is an amount of 7 calories per gram, which is nearly equal to fat. And to be particular, these calories do not do any good to our body as they are empty calories. So the body only processes them and gets zero benefit. That is why this is called extra calories.

Metabolism

Everything we consume gets broken down by our liver. As we consume alcohol our liver is a toxin, and the liver starts breaking it down first. So the rest of the things, like crabs, we eat get stored. While breaking down alcohol, the liver cannot break down fat. So, because of liquor, the overall metabolism of our body slows down.

Munchies

Drinkers be it sessional or occasional, often say that they crave certain food after drinking, known as munchies. It happens because alcohol does not just add calories it makes the user demand more food. As alcohol takes over your brain, it affects your brain’s decision-making ability. As a result it breaks down your rational thinking and can push you to make impulse decisions. Users often eat unhealthy, more junk food or excess sweets after their drinking sessions.

How To Avoid Alcohol Weight Gain

People who have started drinking alcohol recently and some people who are going through beer-belly, face or neck puffiness or overall weight gain want to find a solution to avoid further alcohol weight gain. Here are some tips from our side to help sufferers out.

• Choose light beer over regular ones.
• Go for dry wines instead of sweet ones
• Have your spirits with lime and soda
• Avoid extra-sweet cocktails
• If your drinking session is pre-planned, then drink plenty of water before.
• Even on the day after have a lot of water
• Drink within limit, avoid drinking like a fish
• Eat a healthy meal before starting to drink
• Avoid oily and junk foods while drinking.

FAQs

Closing Note

Alcohol does have a large impact on one drinker’s body if taken regularly along with high-calorie munchies. However, it is recommended that you stay away from strong spirits to ensure a healthy and balanced overall lifestyle. Otherwise if you are drinking, try to have clear insights and drink according to your capability.